Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time

“It won’t take much. Just a few tweaks and we’ll be in business.”

I snickered. A few tweaks. Right.

“What’s so funny?” John asked me.

“Well, you know, a few tweaks. As if just twisting that knob and turning that dial will do the trick.”

“They have before, remember?”

All those unfinished projects came back to mind.

“What about the one with two dots?”

“Not dotty enough.”

“And the one with red and blue?”

“The colors clashed.”

One more chance, I thought.

“Alright, and the one with six legs?”

“No one wanted six legs.”

“You’re crazy, you know that?” I laughed.

“Okay, Miss Know-it-all, I’ve got a plan. Now, just a few more tweaks.”

John twisted a knob, turned a dial, then out popped a perfectly formed dog.

“So there. What do you think?”

“Big deal. They’ve been cloning animals for years.”

“But could they do this?” John pointed to the cloned dog.

“Hello, Miss Jocelyn Adams. How are you today?”

My mouth dropped, I was speechless, unlike the dog that kept on talking.

“Cat got your tongue? Are you tongue-tied? Don’t get your panties in a wad, relax, chill out.”

“Make it stop!” I covered my ears, nudged the dog away from me.

John again pointed to the clone. The thing quit talking.

I let down my hands. “You’ve got a recording in that thing, it can’t talk.”

“Okay, you decide.” John walked out of the room, locked the door behind him.

“Hey, get back here. Don’t leave me alone with this, this…whatever this is.”

“Listen, Jocelyn, I am a clone of the most wonderful dog in the world, Miss Jasper. I can do everything a dog can do, plus I can talk.”

“Fine, then tell me a story.”

“Once upon a time…”

W/C 298